Big Sista Ferry. (Termino, 2018)
Presentem Vanuatu
Presenting Vanuatu
Geography
Northeast of Australia in the continent of Oceania, Vanuatu is a Y-shaped chain of 80 islands, only 65 of which are inhabited. The country is slightly larger than the US state of Connecticut and the three largest islands (Espiritu Santo, Malakula, and Efate) hold half the population of Vanuatu. The main geographical features of these islands are the narrow coastal plains, tropical rainforests, and the large mountains that are volcanic in origin.
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Population
As of July 2018, the population of Vanuatu is 288,037 people. Three-fourths of the population live in rural areas, while the urban populace lives primarily in the two major cities of Port-Villa (the capital) and Lugenville. Vanuatu also has a large youth population, with 34.89 percent of the population being between the ages of 0-14 and the median age of the entire population being 22 years of age. Interestingly, Vanuatu does not have a birth-right citizenship system. In order to be a citizen of Vanuatu, one must be a descendant of a Ni-Vanuatu; therefore, both parents must be citizens of Vanuatu, or in the case of a child only having one parent, it must be the father who is a citizen. An immigrant can become a resident of the country, but one must live on the islands for 10 years to gain resident status.
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Politics
Vanuatu gained independence on July 30th, 1980. The newly formed Vanuatu government is a multi-party parliamentary republic with a constitutional democracy. The executive branch of government is presided over by three main bodies; a president, who is mainly a ceremonial figure head, a prime minister, who is the head of government and parliamentary affairs, and a Council of Chiefs, who are elected officials that advise the government on matters concerning Ni-Vanuatu culture and language. The legislative branch is made up of 52 parliament members that are re-elected every four years and represent a multitude of political parties. And lastly, the judicial branch is made up the magistrate court, who work on criminal and civil cases, and a supreme court, who hear appeals from the magistrate courts.
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ReligionThe main three religions followed in Vanuatu are the customary beliefs of the indigenous people, Protestantism, and Catholicism. Protestantism was introduced in the early 19th century with the arrival of British Protestant missionaries. By the end of the 19th century, France brought Catholicism into the society when they shared political control of the country with Britain (Soboslai, 2012, pp.1342). Another religion that has a large following (6 percent of the population) in Vanuatu is the John Frum movement. Established in the late 1930s under the messianic World War II veteran John Frum, the movement is considered a cargo cult, that focuses on turning back to indigenous ways in order to gain "cargo" from westernized societies. People who follow the John Frum movement believe the veteran will one day return to the islands, so they celebrate him annually during John Frum Day (see video below). Politics and religion are closely tied in Vanuatu, so all religious group either back a specific political party or have a party of their own.
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LanguagesApproximately 63 percent of the languages spoken on the islands of Vanuatu are local languages and there are more than 100 across the 65 inhabited islands. The three official languages spoken on the island are Bislama, English, and French. Bislama is an official creole language; it is made up of 90 percent borrowed English words, a few dozen words from French, as well as some vocabulary inherited from the various local languages in Vanuatu. This creole language was developed by indigenous Ni-Vanuatu to converse with European colonizers, but it has also been frequently used as a lingua franca between people who speak different local languages (Crowely, 1989, pp.38).
See Languages section of this website to learn more! Check out some common phrases in Bislama below! |
What Circle of English is Vanuatu a part of?
Vanuatu is considered to be a part of the Outer Circle of English. This means that English was spread to this country through British imperialism; though it is not the native tongue of many Ni-Vanuatu, it serves as a lingua franca between native people and as the language of government and education (Kachru, 1990).
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Evie McGarry, Fall 2019